Kristeva, Julia

Kristeva’s Life

Julia Kristeva was born June 24, 1941, in Sliven, Bulgaria. Her writings span topics including the following: art and art history; literary theory and criticism, in particular the study of semiotics; psychoanalysis; the abject; feminism; love; the maternal; melancholy; religion; the stranger; culture; and her somewhat autobiographical novels. She has been identified with structuralism but has made significant contributions to post-structuralist thought.

Being the recipient of a doctoral fellowship brought Kristeva from Bulgaria to Paris in December 1965, and she began her studies in January 1966 in literary criticism. In 1973, she was awarded her Ph.D. at which time she became a professor of linguistics at the University of Paris VII where she continues to write, teach, and practice today. The following year her dissertation Revolution in Poetic Language was published, and she visited China. Her trip to China inspired her book Des Chinoises (About Chinese Women)and...